Page 2 of Colton First Responder (Coltons of Mustang Valley)

Slowly, crouching, ignoring her soreness, which was fortunately not too bad, she made her way to the door. She had to go backward. The only way she had a chance of opening that door would be to use her hands, and they remained cuffed behind her.

At least the van wasn’t moving any longer. She thought about calling out to Ari again but decided to wait, to try to get outside and find him, and maybe they could get to safety together.

Better yet, maybe she could somehow sneak away.

She wished she could see better. But the fact that the evening was already growing darker didn’t help. Even so, she managed to find the door with her bound hands behind her, as well as the handle on one side that opened it. Was it locked from the outside? She hoped not.

She pushed down the handle—and the door opened! She felt like shouting in triumph, but this was only a small step in the right direction.

Speaking of steps, could she find the ones at the back of the van and get down without falling? She wouldn’t be able to hold on with her hands behind her.

She shoved the door open as well as she could, still moving backward, then very slowly lowered her right leg till her foot touched a step. She glanced down but could see very little in the darkness. She carefully allowed her left foot to join the right one, and then remained on that step for a few seconds, half expecting the ground to roll again beneath her—or for Ari to show up and shove her back inside.

Neither happened. And after a short while she went down to the next step. The one below that was the ground, and she soon stood there, outside the van, breathing fast and allowing herself to smile, if only a little.

She had beaten one hurdle but there could be plenty more to follow.

She turned and looked at the road behind her. It was narrow, and there was some light shining on it from a few dim electric streetlights spaced long distances apart, probably put there for safety since the road was so rural.

Yikes. It seemed amazing that any of the light poles had survived. Most of the trees around there hadn’t. Uprooted, they splayed onto the concrete, and one even blocked part of the road.

Had it been one of them that hit the van? Savannah assumed so, so she started walking carefully around the vehicle on the driver’s side.

Sure enough, a large tree had obliterated that part of the cab, crushing the car from the hood all the way to the passenger area. Savannah swallowed hard as she drew closer, looking at the smashed area where Ari had sat to drive.

How amazing that the tree had only crushed the front of the van, and not where she had been sitting. Despite all that had been happening to her, she had actually experienced a little bit of luck.

But what about Ari? Had he been hit by the tree?

She hoped he’d had time to slide over to the other side, assuming it was less destroyed.

As she got closer, she even called out his name. “Ari? Ari, are you okay?”

She heard nothing—and as she got to the huge tree branch that stuck out past the crumpled van door, she managed to look inside.

And backed up fast.

Ari was there...what was left of him. She couldn’t see everything with those branches there, but she did see part of his body. What she could make out was covered with blood.

She gasped. “Ari?” she said again. No response. No movement. Since the window was broken, she made herself turn and carefully reach inside, her hands still behind her, and man

aged to touch Ari’s neck. No indication of a pulse—and considering what he looked like, she knew he was dead.

She felt tears stream down her face. Okay, she hadn’t liked the guy, and he clearly had felt no compassion toward her. It wasn’t his job to give a damn about her. But no matter who he was, she didn’t wish this on anyone.

She moved away—but what could she do now? She had only the slightest idea where they were, since she really didn’t know the route from the courthouse to the prison, and this was way off in the middle of nowhere.

And even if she wasn’t hit by a falling tree, how long could she survive out here in the elements, after an awful earthquake—and unable to free or use her hands?

Ari had secured her in the back of the van, remembering to check her handcuffs before they’d left. Was there any possibility he’d kept the keys?

Surely so. He’d need to unlock the cuffs when they reached the prison. Of course there might be a separate set there, but just in case he had one, she moved toward the passenger side of the van’s front cab, going around the back of the truck since the tree blocked her from the front.

As she walked, she listened. No more loud sounds like those caused by the quake but there were plenty of calls of animals and birds in the surrounding area. No sound of other vehicles—or people—that she could hear.

Nothing else suggesting further tremors—or worse. At least not at the moment.

Reaching the passenger door, she turned around and used her bound hands to try to open it.

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